(Note: The information in this series of articles isn’t corroborated by ITC contacts that I consider to be accurate and reliable. So readers’ discretion is advised.)

This series of articles summarizes and explores the classic (1896) book, Wanderer in the Spirit Lands. I try to preserve the original meaning in the summary (which is regular type). My observations and comments are in italics.

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Ch15. Supported by his dad and his guide Ahrinziman, Franchezzo signs up for an expedition of rescue workers to “the lowest sphere of all,” the Christian hell. These “soldiers… of truth and light and hope” are recruited from the first sublevel of the second level (Franchezzo’s current home) because souls at that level are dense and dark enough to be perceived by the darkest of lost souls and can offer them a lifeline, and at the same time they are light and purified enough to avoid the earthly temptations they’ll encounter along the way. The rescue workers are supported and protected by lighter spirits from finer realms, some of them so rarefied that they are invisible to the workers as well as to those they’ll be helping. Ahrinziman assigns his student Hassein (both of them were Persian follower of Zoroaster during lifetime) to accompany Franchezzo, to show him and explain to him the mysteries of the astral realms they’ll be exploring. This rescue team from the Brotherhood of Hope will join other teams from other spiritual networks representing many religions and schools of thought, all of whom share the timeless fundamental truths (such as the omnipresence of God and the advancement of souls) but vary greatly in their speculations, theories, and discussions of how it all ties together. As Hassein explains, truth and perfection stream down through each network from the highest levels to the lowest, but any spirit at any particular level can convey only the bits of truth that he or she is intellectually and spiritually able to assimilate… so the truth gets dressed up in all sorts of ways by the time it reaches the lower levels of the different networks.

From this I deduce that as long as all the networks share the basic truths, then they all share a basic resonance and compatibility… but as they begin to veer away from each other more and more in their details and dressing as we move into the lower levels of the networks, then the resonance and compatibility begin to weaken and strain at the lower levels. This has valuable implications for modern ITC research (getting information from spirit through our technologies), which depends on a resonant communication bridge with our spirit partners. I’ll probably talk more about that in this series, since it’s so vital to ITC.

Also important is Franchezzo’s explanation of how these rescue workers have to be from level 2 – sublevel 1 of the “7 levels of heaven,” so that the workers are:

• dense and dark enough to be identified by those who are to be rescued from the darker “7 levels of hell,”
• light and refined enough to be immune from the dangers at the lower levels, and
• supported by even more refined and powerful spirits from subtler realms.

This sounds to me very much like Timestream spirit group, who shared an ITC bridge with our INIT association from 1995 to 2000. Timestream emphasized that they reside at level 3 of this 7-level hierarchy  of “heaven” described both by Franchezzo and by Frederic Myers, and that the Timestream spirits were working with us humans on Earth at level 1… much the same way those rescue teams in Franchezzo’s story were descending to lower levels to provide help.

• Timestream told us that they have to reside at level 3 because spirits at level 3 are dense enough, or similar enough to us on Earth at level 1, to be identified by us.
• At the same time, it became apparent from the content of their messages that the spirits at Timestream were light and refined enough to be immune from the dangers of working with people on Earth. As our INIT members began to experience escalating accusations, arguments, and envy amongst ourselves starting around 1997, our spirit friends at Timestream sent us messages that were always calming and patient, encouraging us to resolve our differences. They didn’t get drawn into our conflicts to stir things up… which would probably have happened had they been residing at level 2 or at level 1 (earthbound spirits). Those lower spirits would have been susceptible to our conflicts and would have stirred things up. In fact, some of those spirits a levels 1 and 2 did break into our communications during those troubled years when the bridge became unstable. I received this message on my answering machine. Our friends at Timestream told us later that it was delivered from a lower spirit named Afra impersonating our spirit friend Konstantin Raudive. (Listen to the imposter… ) Then compare that to a contact from the real Konstantin Raudive...also received on my telephone answering machine.
• Timestream spirit group couldn’t have held together in its mission to work with the roller-coaster, topsy-turvy emotions of humans on Earth, without the close support and guidance of The Seven ethereals who facilitated the bridge and regulated the information flow. They were definitely the stabilizing force in all of this ITC work. When our troubles became too unwieldy, The Seven apparently suspended the bridge for a while around the year 2000.

So, taking Franchezzo’s experiences to heart can help us put the challenges of ITC research into perspective. It all involves trying to sustain resonance in a multi-level network, and knowing what levels are involved in an ITC bridge: level 1 (physical humans on Earth) and stable spirit groups at level 3.

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Ch16. Even though he died in his 60s, Hassein appears to Franchezzo as a wise, mature, dignified 30-year-old because of the spiritual advancements he’s made since his death. All physical and spiritual beings of all habitable planets go through a similar purifying process as they ascend through these seven-level networks. He tells Franchezzo that during their expedition some spirits will be able to see them, while others will not, just as some people on Earth can see astral spirits, astral shells, nature spirits, and ethereal beings while others cannot. Most people on Earth are blind to spirits, many can see them at levels 1-3, fewer can perceive spirits at levels 4 and 5, and only a few can perceive them at levels 6 and 7. And most people who see the spirits, especially at the finer levels, see them imperfectly, as though through distorted glasses. Perfect vision requires a detachment from the physical body and the illusions of the material world, as achieved through meditation, and it is extremely rare on Earth. Ancient civilizations, especially in the East, had schools that carefully taught students, starting in childhood, how to refine their perception into the 7 spirit levels. Likewise, many teachers in the spirit worlds are on a constant vigil for sensitives on Earth who can be coaxed along to greater perception. Franchezzo is deeply moved by this information, he thanks Hassein for the lesson and for their friendship, he bids his father adieu, and he joins with his fellow travelers in the great hall for a farewell benediction from the Grand Master.

Over the past quarter-century I’ve become convinced that the other side is growing excited with the prospect of ITC. Since advanced spiritual training of ancient times has been largely forgotten by modern civilization and its diluted religions, many in the spirit worlds see ITC as a way to jump start the out-of-practice, modern human soul. It’ll still require some spiritual purification among ITC researcher in order to sustain resonance with the finer realms of spirit, but if humans on Earth can provide that fertile ground for stable ITC bridges (not an easy task), then the Earth could see a spiritual renaissance in this century.

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Ch17. As Franchezzo’s group begins its descent from level 2 toward the lower levels of hell, he notices lots of curious things going on in level 1, the shadow world of spiritual residue around the Earth. Besides the wandering spirits and lost souls whom he’s seen before, Hassein shows him:

Wax doll

• Spectral wraiths or astral shells resembling caved-in wax dolls with lifeless eyes and expressions, drifting and bobbing like buoys at sea… formed by the lower thoughts of humans pressing upon the magnetic currents flowing through the astral realm… what science might regard as anti-magnetic forces if they could perceive them.
• These same astral shells being controlled by magicians on Earth to behave like living spirits… to carry out tasks at some distant location so as not to incriminate the magicians… but always working from the astral realm (not entering the physical world).
• Little groups of child-like elves dressed in caps and gowns with bodies cast off the minds and bodies of children, these soulless shapes frolicking… dissolving… then reforming as little fairies with butterfly wings, human bodies, and animal heads… then all breaking up, blowing away, and reforming elsewhere like foam on ocean waves.
• Floating figures of dark, misshapen half human beings that are automatically drawn to cling to the spiritually unprotected minds of alcoholics like leeches, to haunt their delirium, and to suck out their animal life force… until someone else on Earth with a strong will instills his healthy life force in the alcoholic, which poisons the leeches until they fall off.
• These same dark, soul-less half-humans, with no will of their own to impose on carnal humans, being herded and controlled by black magic practitioners on Earth to deplete and sicken selected victims.
• Living spirits of dead alcoholics who move into the carnal bodies of living alcoholics… and who do impose their will-to-drink on the alcoholics… and who do derive pleasure from the alcohol consumed by their carnal hosts… forging a sick, parasitic relationship that can last for years until a higher power intervenes.
• Soul-less elementals of earth, air, fire, and water whose bodies—gnomes and elves (inhabiting caves), fairies (seen in secluded areas among primitive tribes), water sprites and spirits of fire and air—are all fed and formed largely by the lower, animalistic personalities of living humans… and who have largely died out as the intellectual state of modern civilization possesses too little of the lower animal nature to sustain them.

Hassein tells Franchezzo that in earlier times humanity was content to feel as a child calling for help from God, who sent his angels and finer spirits to protect his children. Today, many self-important humans deny the vast spiritual forces around them while others, fearing the unknown, cling to the superstitions and creeds of self-appointed guides with skewed vision. So out of pity and concern, God today is opening the doors of communication wide and sending messengers and ambassadors from the finer realms to show humanity a better way to the happiness of a higher life.

When Franchezzo wrote this book 122 years ago, he was referring to communication via mediumship. Today the message is as timely as ever, referring especially to ITC.